HOW I CAUGHT A TARTAR. 59 



I made to capture him, and so I left him in possession 

 while I took my bath and prepared my breakfast. 



During breakfast, and long after, I speculated 

 upon the strange fact that this wild parrot should be 

 able to speak, and in my own tongue. My desire to 

 make his further acquaintance overcame my fear of 

 his formidable beak, and so, taking a banana and a 

 cracker as peace offerings, I looked into the hut. A 

 sorrowful sight rewarded me, for the bird had 

 wreaked his wrath on the hammock to such an extent 

 that a portion of it was hanging in strings, and he 

 was now beginning on the palm thatch overhead. He 

 desisted as I appeared, and dropped to the floor, 

 where he with difficulty waddled to a perch on a 

 barrel, and held out his foot for the banana. His 

 aspect was still fierce, but not wholly resentful, and 

 under cover of the food offering I began to talk to 

 him. Having his mouth full, at first he refused to 

 talk, only muttering unintelligibly, but when the 

 banana was gone he cocked up his head and said in 

 French, " Give me another ! " 



This was another surprise, for the nearest island 

 in which French is spoken is Granada, nearly a hun- 

 dred miles distant. But this was not the only phrase 

 he could utter in that language, for he rolled oat 

 quite a string of epithets in the French patois spoken 

 by the common people of the Antilles. I was amazed 

 and grieved — amazed at his knowledge, and grieved 

 that he should prove such a sad sinner. I had hoped 

 for a good little bird like Crusoe's, who would be a 

 decent companion to me and talk decorously ; but in- 



